‘Funny’ videos of stressed and frightened pets are no laughing matter

It turns out that it is incredibly ridiculous to scare your cats and dogs. At least this is the message that we receive from certain Tiktok, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram video.

As a writer, a little one who is a lot of focus on animal behavior, I must say that I just do not understand a joke. The owners publish a video about themselves in Halloween masks or with the plush dolls of the predator, jump out of the doorways and couchs, just for the pleasure of frightening their allegedly beloved pets – which quickly jump in the air, shout in fear or removal – sometimes directly into the wall or ledge.

Obviously, my viral radar is disabled because these clips really tickle the funny bones of the audience. They collect millions of hits, crying emoticons with laughter and joyful comments from users highlighting their favorite moments.

According to general recognition, watching such videos is not my usual way to postpone at the end. But recently I came across research Alina Kyunöl At the University of Veterinary Medicine Hanover in Germany and its colleagues Analysis 162 “Funny” videos from various social networksThey found the field that 82 percent of the clips showed animals expressing obvious signs of stress, and 30 percent showed animals that were probably painful. Surprised by these statistics, I decided to look at myself.

Now I spent too many hours, watching the so -called funny loads of cats and dogs on social networks. Unfortunately, I can confirm that these researchers did not exaggerate. Not only do there are endless videos about people who deliberately terrorize cats and dogs with terrible search for “BU”, but there is also a huge supply of clips where pets will accidentally suffer – like kittens falling down the stairs, and dogs that fell through glass doors.

Once I encouraged a rescue kitten, who accidentally slipped from the couch and landed poorly, causing paralysis, which required euthanasia. I saw how the dogs received a concussion, damage to the nerve and terrible injuries from waste of glass. But ha -ha, so funny, right?

It also seems popular to demonstrate “naughty” dog behavior. People take a bunch of fluff and fabric from what used to be their sofas, at the same time condescendingly sang “What did you do?” When the dog is hiding. Owners can please their success on social networks and the “guilt” of their pet, but the truth is that destructive behavior often reflects poor well -being, and the face of the guilty dog ​​is most likely an expression of expected punishment than remorse. So in fact, a joke on you, the owner.

And then there are many painfully lively animals that are so overweight that they are stuck in pets, can barely go and simply cannot jump on furniture, despite efforts that, frankly, heartbreaking. Other pets, represented as ridiculous, have a disability, such as damage to the nerve, as a result of which they go or move abnormally.

Watching these scenes, I feel that I was transported to some sore spectacle, where modern technologies are mixed from 19^tourCircus and lateral shows are that the audience is idle in “people in clown costumes”, they are frightened, kicked or ridiculed, while others simply try to live their lives with physical deformations.

It is difficult to unravel where this trend comes from – and I hope that this is just a great misunderstanding. Maybe people simply do not understand that they laugh at the suffering of another living creature. Nevertheless, this applies to the tendency, since studies show that repeatedly observing violence and cruelty on the Internet can dull people's emotions. This can make us less sensitive to the suffering of animals, while at the same time normalizing such harmful scenes in our minds as Cunöl and her colleagues gloomily indicate. (Indeed, this theory is played out in the real world, since several commentators who mark these scenes as cruel are often bombarded with answers of hatred and shame.)

Good news is that animals can be incredibly funny in themselves, without pain, stress or provocation. Just ask someone whose cat scored on the computer screen or played with their sink, or whose dogs received Zoomies or jumps into the lake. It is easy to get a lot of laughter from observing happy, healthy animals, engaged in a natural game and a safe study.

And with this, let's offer a new problem on social networks. Make us laugh with a video about how your pets have fun without discomfort, without stress and without restrictions. We laugh you And Your pets have fun together.